007 Chatter: Best and Worst Bond girls of each Bond actor

In anticipation for Bond 23, a.k.a. Skyfall (view trailer) coming on November 9th, 2012, Ted and I are starting a new monthly series called 007 CHATTER… look for it sometime in the first week of each month. …I’ve also added a new category for this, so click on 007 Chatter on the category drop-down menu for all Bond-related posts.

Two and a half months away until Skyfall arrives so the countdown continues. This time my pal Ted and I set our sights to the Bond girls! They’re as essential to a Bond movie as his Walter PPK, and they have quite an enduring appeal. Once a Bond girl, always a Bond girl. I subscribe to IN STYLE magazine and within the 600+ pages of the September issue is a segment on guess what, Bond girls!! It marks the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No. I like the intro they wrote:

It’s the most exclusive sorority in the world — a sisterhood of desire, bikinis and deadly weapons.

I also saw this amazing info-graphic created by CableTV.com that shows every single Bond girls from the 23 Bond movies, yes including Skyfall.

Click to see the full infographic

Well, not every Bond girl is cut from the same cloth however, so here’s our picks of the best and worst from Connery all the way to Daniel Craig [we purposely skip George Lazenby’s single Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service]. I do think that Diana Rigg as the ONLY Bond girl that the playboy super-spy married would belong in the BEST list.

So here we go:…

TED’s LIST

BEST

WORST

Connery

Honey Ryder

Tiffany Case

Moore

Solitaire

Mary Goodnight

Dalton

Pam Bouvier

Kara Milovy

Brosnan

Natalya Simonova

Christmas Jones

Craig

Camille

Strawberry Fields

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Sean Connery

It’s a challenge to choose the best and worst Bond girls from all of Connery’s films, but I believe many people will agree with my choices.

Best: Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in Dr. No – the scene where she emerged out of the beach is still the best intro to a beautiful woman ever filmed. I instantly fell in love with her as a young teenager and maybe it’s the reason why I tend to date blonde ladies with curves 🙂

Worst: Jill St. John as Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever – In my opinion this was one of the worst Bond films ever produced and it has probably the worst Bond girl in Jill St. John. Her is a perfect example of damsel in distress, even she spent most of the movie in a bikini, I just found her character annoying.

Roger Moore

Let’s face it most of Moore’s Bond films were pretty dreadful but many of the Bond girls were quite beautiful.

Best: Jane Seymore as Solitaire in Live and Let Die – The first time I saw this film and her character appeared on screen, I thought she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I think she’s only the reason why I can watch this Bond flick again and again. This was one of the worst Bond films ever made.

Worst: Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun – Another bad Bond flick, unfortunately it also have one of the worst Bond girls. Ekland’s character is another damsel in distress and not much else.

Timothy Dalton

He’s only done two Bond films so this one was easy to choose.

Best: Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier in License to Kill – She’s a sexy lady who can fire a shotgun and flies an airplane. With her long legs and beautiful eyes, yeah I’m in love with her.

Worst: Maryam d’Abo as Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights – I hate to keep repeating myself but again her character is another damsel in distress and not much else.

Pierce Brosnan

He starred in four Bond films, two good ones and two very bad ones.

Best: Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova in GoldenEye – I think her character is more of a sidekick to Bond than just another eye candy. She actually helped Bond get out of trouble in some tight spots.

Worst: Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough – I mentioned this on an earlier article so I’ll mention it again: Denise Richards played a doctor, Denise Richards played a doctor! Richards’ so unbelievable in this role that I have to wonder if she’d slept with the producers to get the job!

Daniel Craig

He’s the current Bond and so far we’ve only seen two of his films but here are my best and worst.

Best: Olga Kurylenko as Camille in Quantum of Solace – I’m sure many people would’ve gone with Eva Green in Casino Royale but I like Olga better. She and Bond had the same agenda and will do whatever it takes to get it. I really dug the scene where she told Bond what happened to her family and then Bond apologized to her for messing up her attempt at killing General Medrano.

Worst: Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace – I don’t even know why the filmmakers decided to include her in the film, she served no purpose whatsoever to the story. Maybe halfway through filming, they realized they only have one pretty girl so they had bring in another one just to please the audience.

…

RUTH’s LIST

BEST

WORST

Connery

Pussy Galore

Kissy Suzuki

Moore

Octopussy

Stacey Sutton

Dalton

Pam Bouvier

None 🙂

Brosnan

Elektra King & Wai Lin(tie)

Christmas Jones

Craig

Vesper Lynd

Camille Montes

…

Sean Connery

I have to confess that my memory of Connery’s Bond films are a bit hazy, and I had just seen Dr. No for the first time recently.

Best: Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger – Not only does she have THE most memorable name in the history of Bond girls, she also has one of the best introduction. Bond’s response “I must be dreaming,” always makes me laugh, I mean it’s just perfect! She’s also a pilot and knows Judo, and though there are hints that miss Galore is gay, Honor Blackman said in the Bond Girls Are Forever documentary that she played the role as if she had been abused in the past.

Worst:Zena Marshall as Miss Taro in Dr. No – Since I just saw this recently, it’s still fresh in my mind. I can’t stand it when Hollywood used to employ Caucasian actress to play an ethnic character. In this case she’s supposed to be a Chinese girl and Zena was made up with heavy eyeliner to make her eyes appear smaller [roll eyes] On top of it, her character is just lame. I’m glad Bond girls have come a long way since then, well most of the time anyway.

Roger Moore

I grew up watching Moore’s Bond films so I remember them fondly. Though I prefer the grittier Bond like Dalton and Craig, Moore’s Bond flicks are guilty pleasures for me. They’re preposterous fun!

Best: Maud Adams as Octopussy in Octopussy – The film is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine, but I really like seeing a Bond girl not only get the title role but she’s also a powerful business woman who’s beautiful as well as shrewd. Swedish-born Adams is the only Bond girl (besides Eunice Gayson as ‘Trench, Sylvia Trench’) who appears in two Bond films. I quite like the way she speaks, sounds seductive and elegant, without sounding like a bimbo.

Worst: Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton in A View To a Kill – For a geologist, Stacey just doesn’t seem that bright to me and unlike Maud, the girlish way Tanya talks annoys the heck out of me. It’s a terribly-written Bond flick to begin with, and having her as the Bond girl certainly doesn’t help matters. She doesn’t seem able to do single darn thing without Bond’s help!…

Timothy Dalton

My favorite Bond somehow got a bad rap for being way ahead of its time… and also for being the least promiscuous of them all [in the 007 universe apparently it’s a bad thing] as the film comes out in the age of AIDS and safe sex.

Best: Carey Lowellas Pam Bouvier in License to Kill – I like her spunk and as a CIA agent, she definitely doesn’t need Bond’s help to take care of the bad guys. I like the fact that Bouvier has her hair cut short when Bond hints that she needs a makeover. She looks sexy and in control in that sparkling dress and bright red lipstick, no wonder Bond did a double take when he saw her!

Special Honorable Mention:Talisa Soto as Lupi in License to Kill. As the girlfriend of Bond villain Sanchez, no doubt Lupi is pretty much just there for eye candy. But I think she’s quite memorable and she definitely looks stunning in that red lace dress at the casino.

Worst: None.Controversial I know but I quite like ALL of Dalton’s Bond girls.

I know people don’t like Maryam d’Aboas Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights, but to her credit, I don’t think she’s as much a weak Bond girl as people think. The more I watch this movie the more I grow fond of her, yes even her delirious cooing to Bond “You were fantastic. We’re free!” to which Bond replied, “Kara, we’re inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan!” But then she redeemed herself and proves her mettle when she’s left behind with the Mujahideen, fighting her way to finally get into the plane with Bond. I also like that she’s the only Bond girl who actually has a legitimate career as a concert cellist.…

Pierce Brosnan

I enjoyed the first two of his Bond flicks, but the last two leave much to be desired. Now that I think about it, I’m not too keen on Brosnan’s style as Bond either. He’s just way too smug for his own good, but he does have some terrific Bond girls cast in his movies.

Best: Sophie Marceau and Michelle Yeoh (tie). I can’t pick which one I like best between these two. I like Sophie’s elegance and her background as an heiress who falls for her kidnapper is quite intriguing. The film is crap yes, but I have a soft spot for Sophie as a Bond girl. Michelle is one of those tough girl who could practically kill Bond with her martial arts skill. I like her earlier chase scenes between her and Bond in Carver’s secret lab in Hamburg, Germany.

Special Honorable Mention:Famke Janssen as Xenia Onnatop in Goldeneye. She’s more of a Bond villainness but I think she deserves a mention as who could forget the cigar-smokin’ beauty with killer thighs? I’ve always liked Famke, especially as Dr. Jean Grey in the X-Men movies. I can’t believe she’s now relegated to a damsel-in-distress role as Bryan Mills’ ex-wife in Taken, you’d think after such a bad-ass role she could almost get a role as a female superspy!

Worst:Denise Richardsas Dr. Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough – Even with our ‘suspension of disbelief’ radar turned on at full force, it’s still hard to take in someone who looks and talks like Denise Richards, dressed in tank top and short shorts, as anything requiring an advanced degree, let alone a nuclear scientist!! Plus, Bond’s quip at the end about ‘Christmas only comes once a year’ is just sooo cringe-worthy!

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Daniel Craig

Though Craig’s only got two movies so far, but one of his Bond girls has become one of my favorites Bond girls of all time. We’ll see how Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe would fare when Skyfall is released.

Best: Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale – I just love her from the moment she appeared on the train to Montenegro. Her banter with Bond is one of my all-time favorite scenes, and not just from a Bond movie. Vesper is no bimbo, but she’s also more than meets the eye. Eva plays Vesper in such a bewitching way that it’s easy to see why even someone like Bond who could have any woman he wanted would give it all up just for her.

Worst: Olga Kurylenkoas Camille in Quantum of Solace – Sorry Ted but I just don’t like this movie and though Olga is beautiful, she makes for a boring Bond girl to me. Yes she’s got her own personal vendetta so she has no time to make love with Bond, and that’s completely fine by me, yet she just isn’t a charismatic character. It’s not her fault though, I think the film is just poorly-written.

…

… Well that’s our list. I’m sure every Bond fan has their own pick of best and worst Bond girls, so let’s hear it!

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63 thoughts on “007 Chatter: Best and Worst Bond girls of each Bond actor”

Melissa Bradley

Love the Bond choices. I agree with most of them. But I think Olga was the best for Craig. I do not like Eva Green in anything. The poor woman flat out bores me to tears, I don’t know why, but she does. 🙂

I don’t mind Eva Green as an actress but yeah I was bored with Vesper. I sort of feel bad for her once we found out she’s been used by another agent in Quantum of Solace, she betrayed Bond because she loved this agent more.

» Honor will always have me in her grasp. And we’re unanimous about poor Tiffany (though, it was good to see a redhead represented). Honorable mention: Barbara Carrera’s henchwoman role in the pointless ‘Thunderball’ remake (Never Say Never Again) was such a delicious hoot! She and Sean are the only good things in the entire picture.

» Maud is a special case. The only actress to appear as a guest Bond Girl in more than one movie (and as different characters in The Man With The Golden Gun and Octopussy). Criminy! She even has a cameo in A View To A Kill. And Tanya is my all-time worst Bond Girl… also like EVER.

Wow, I’m thrilled we agree on most of the picks. Glad to hear you think Yeoh is underrated, she kicked ass, plus she looked quite elegant.

As for Kara, yeah I suppose if having another Bond girl might’ve secured Dalton for another film I don’t mind losing her, ahah. I just don’t think she’s THAT bad. But compared to Pam Bouvier and Lupi, I guess she’s the worst 🙂

I actually just don’t like her character, I remember years ago when I read the novel and I was so pissed at what she did to Bond. I guess I should commend Green for doing such a good job of bringing her to life and stay true to the source material. I was shocked how well the movie and her character were so close to the book. But I just thought her character was an excuse for Bond to be promiscuous since she broke his heart and now he just won’t fall in love again with any woman.

Camille, I don’t find her boring at all because she’s as pissed off as Bond was in the movie so I found that exiting.

Great concept and great execution on this post! I have to agree with Ted on Brosnan’s worst, seriously Christmas Jones may be the worst EVER, and with Ruth on Brosnan’s best…Michelle Yeoh truly kicked @$$. I have to say I really liked Olga Kurylenko though, she was like a female Bond, it was interesting to watch. Basically my picks are the same as le0pard13’s above…but my all-time fave is probably either Honor Blackman or Eva Green.

I really can’t imagine anyone liking Denise Richards as a Bond girl, ahah. I hear ya about Olga, I don’t dislike her, I just don’t think she’s that fun to watch, well neither is the movie! Michael’s picks are similar to mine, so yay! 😀

A very fun read for Bond fans. The Infographic was a nice share (and saved, I may “borrow” that for a future post if that’s ok).

Ruth, glad to see you giving Sophie Marceau her due. She was awesome, and one of my favorite bond girls. In fact, in spite of Denise Richards, the Brosnan era was one of the Best for the Bond Girls, without a doubt. Also nice to see you give some love to Maud Adams. She was great in Octopussy, for sure.

I know Urusla Andress started it all in terms of Bond Girls, but I think she’s over rated a bit due to the infamous “White Bikini Emergence”. I prefer the women of Thunderball, from the Connery era myself.

Good to hear someone give QoS a positive nod, Josh. It’s not the disaster everyone says it is. Yeah, it had production problems (more than a few films had them that year, with the strike and all), but an under appreciated film, nonetheless.

I’ve said many times, if people watch Casino Royale then Quantum of Solace right after, they might enjoy it more. It’s the only direct sequel in the Bond franchise and I thought it was great. Yes it has flaws but as some already mentioned here, that’s when the writers went on strike of course they couldn’t really do rewrites to tighten up the script.

High five Nick! Glad you concur on the three favorite Bond movies. I think Elektra is perhaps underrated as she’s in the same movie as that dumb Denise, ahah. I thought her transition from love interest to villainess quite convincing.

I really need to watch all of Bond flicks one by one sometime, I’ll probably see the oens with Connery in one day or something, he’s so hot ^^

I really like Goldeneye Bond Girls they wre both smart, gorgeous and capable. Denise Richards was just awful, honestly one of the worst bond girls ever. Glad to see love for Sophie Marceau she was really good and her character was quite interesting.

I might have seen all of the Connery ones growing up but I’ve forgotten some of them so I’m revisiting it now. They’re kinda boring to the newer ones though, but yeah, Connery is muy caliente [fan self] What is it with the Scots [sigh]

Yes, the smart and capable ones are always my faves, plus Sophie has that dark past which makes her quite intriguing.

Love Michelle Yeoh – a really feisty Bond girl who was (for once) Bond’s equal. I really didn’t like Halle Berry as Jinx – trying too hard to be an equal but Berry just isn’t that good an actress. I haven’t thought much about the best and worst Bond girls for each actor but Honor Blackman has to be near the top and Denise Richards absolutely at the bottom.

I’ve just started my own Bond series so it will good to compare our opinions as the build-up to Skyfall continues.

Hi Louise! Yeah, that’s exactly the reason I love Michelle Yeoh. I didn’t like Berry as Jinx at all, she just didn’t seem believable in that role to me and their love scenes actually put me off. Oh you’re starting your Bond series? Will check that out now!

I’m blown away by how well you both know ALL the James Bond movies! Eva Green was definitely my favorite (her banter with Bond on the train was perfect), though Famke Jannssen did manage to steal the show in Goldeneye as the psychotic femme fatale.

I think I’ve seen every Bond movie but I don’t think I can remember half of them, so can’t really say who’s the best or worst Bond girl. Wait…. no I going out on a limb and say the worst is Denise Richards, for all the Bonds.

Still have to say the new Bond girls names are boring compared to likes of Pussy Galore, Xenia Onnatop, Kissy Suzuki, and the likes…

Ahah, so true Asrap. They were more um, creative with the Bond girls’ names back then weren’t they? But I think Christmas Jones is a terrible name, fitting for the actress who performed the role I suppose.

I have to weigh in here with my picks. I agree on a lot of them, though I’m stunned that neither of you mentioned one of the best of all time, Agent XXX!

Here we go:

Connery: Best is Honey Ryder; Worst is Tiffany Case
Moore: Best is Anya Amasova; Worst is Mary Goodnight (definitely!)
Dalton: Best is Pam Bouvier: Worst is Lupi
Brosnan: Best is Natalya Simonova; Worst is Christmas Jones
Craig: Best is Vesper Lynd; Worst is Solange

A few of these were very close. Moore had a few bad ones, especially Stacy Sutton in a View to a Kill. Dalton and Craig were tougher.

Hi Dan! Y’know it’s funny, I never knew the name of Barbara Bach’s character, just realized she’s Major Anya Amasova 🙂 I do like her but not exactly my favorite under Moore’s Bond films. I do like The Spy Who Loved Me though and Agent XXX is fitting as Bach is VERY sexy in those revealing dresses.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen the classic Bonds but some of my favourites are Pussy Galore, Pam Bouvier, Honey Rider, Natalya Siminova, Vesper Lynd and Xenia Onatop. For me, the stronger the female character, the better she is as a Bond girl.

Though, and you may think this sacrilege, one day I’m hoping the Bond peeps think that maybe, just maybe, they don’t NEED a Bond girl. Eh?

I’m constantly surprised when I see Pam Bouvier’s performance rated so highly. She’s one of the worst Bond girls for me…the woman simply can’t act (perhaps most clearly highlighted in a career CV that distinctly lacks any highlights). It is one of the least credible performances by an actress playing a Bond girl I’ve seen.

Hello I’m Ruth!

Film is in my blood. LOVE movies of all genres, from Jane Austen to James Bond. Official blogger for the Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF). I’ve wrote and produced my first short film » HEARTS WANT in 2017 and currently working on developing the full story as a feature film.